Real world example 1: My wife and I went on a trip to Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, PA, and after we got our tickets the cashier informed us that self-guided headsets were included with our tickets to the prison. The cashier stated that the instructions on how to use the headsets are clearly defined on the sets themselves.

When we got our headsets we didn’t notice any instructions on them anywhere and after a few moments I decided press some of the buttons. Then we noticed that the limited instructions were on a very small screen on the base of the headset. We are used to earlier modes of audiotapes and self-guided tours where you press the start button and the tape would play telling you where to go and what to do. However, this device required you to first find the starting point of the tour (which was not at the point of purchase) and press a specific code for that section in order to receive your information and instruction for the next part of the tour.

The goals of the cashiers instruction was to teach us how to use our headsets; but, we finally figured out what we had to do after a series of trial and error. The instruction that we were given was worthless. This was evident by the group of people that followed us and had similar difficulties.

Three things that I learned and will not likely forget are: (1) always ask for clarifications on any event that involves any sort of technological device, (2) if given the option for a self-guided versus guided tour, take the guided tour because it is more interactive and they know where they are going, and (3) never take anything for granted when it comes to giving and receiving instructions (lectures).

Real world example 2: This weekend my school required that all faculty must attend a Google workshop so that we can spend the summer learning how to incorporate the new functionalities of Google in our classes next academic year. The goals of the training session was never really made clear other than we will learn about Google and what it has to offer the teachers and students in any classroom.

The training sessions were interesting because we were learning something new; but, we never really were given any idea on how we were supposed to use said application(s). Rather, we were just informed that we are expected to use it next year. We all thought that that objective was pretty vague and worthless as was the overall consensus of the training itself.

The three things that I learned from that event were: (1) always give real-world examples when it comes to introducing new information because it will make the learning more connected, (2) never rush through a topic that may seem simple to me; but, may be difficult to the audience, and (3) always have multiple forms of instructional devices (lecture, online notes and power point descriptions) available for the students so that they can follow the discussion will less anxiety.

I think that what I read about instructional design will be very important in my future work goals in that I will be more conscious about the structure of the courses I develop from now on. I never really gave much thought to my course design. I simply thought that mathematics was straight forward and that each chapter and section followed each other. But, from now on I will spend more time making the goals of each class more clearly stated so that the students will have a better understanding of what I will expect to cover in that lecture.